baseball obituaries 2020

ed sprague sr, 74

pretty bad pitcher, apart from a solid 1974 campaign with milwaukee

was the orioles scout who signed mike mussina

Jr. hit a very memorable WS home run.

George Nicolau

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-01-10/george-nicolau-mlb-collusion-drugs-dodgers-dead

Royals owner/Walmart boss David Glass

(yeah, meh)

Just spoke with Mets star Jeff McNeil, who played for John Altobelli, one of the victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash, who managed Brewster in the Cape Cod League in 2012.

Said McNeil: "He's one of the main reasons I’m still playing professional baseball.”

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 26, 2020

roger kahn, author of 'the boys of summer', 92

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/obituaries/roger-kahn-who-lifted-sportswriting-with-boys-of-summer-dies-at-92.html

RIP Rog, even tho ten was probably a little young for me to read the book

I really need to read "The Boys of Summer" again after 30 years.

japanese legend katsuya nomura, 84

catcher who played 26 seasons, hitting .277/.357/.508 with 657 homers (second to oh). also managed for 24 years

tony fernandez, 57

He was so good his first couple of seasons; looked like he was going to be right up there with Ripken and Yount before long. (Probably less impressive analytically, but that was barely around then.) He never stayed at that level, but he had a long, solid career, and his return to the Jays for the '93 WS team was great. So young.

Forgot he was the fourth player in the Carter/Alomar for McGriff/Fernandez trade in 1990. Has there been a bigger-name trade since? I know Alomar hadn't flourished yet, but James had already identified him as a future superstar--I still remember his Alomar entry in The Baseball Book a year or two earlier, where he wrote "GET ROBERTO ALOMAR" whether you were a fantasy player or card collector or whatever. So you had Alomar, one of the 10 best hitters in the game in McGriff, the wildly-overrated-in-retrospect but big-name and big-RBI-guy Carter, and Fernandez, who was still thought of as a possible/probable Hall of Famer. Don't recall a bigger one since, or at least not between two teams--there've been some multi-team transactions along those lines.

Yeah three guys who at their peaks were HOF type talents (one already in, one who will be, and a third in Fernandez who despite maybe never reaching his potential finished with an impressive career WAR due to those early seasons and late career renaissance) and a fourth who was not great but a solid bat in his best years.

So young, I didn't know he was sick. I always think of him as the 22 year old phenom and potential best SS in the game from the '85 division winners. Many people probably remember him as the guy whose error might have given away the '97 WS. Each of his stints with the Jays was memorable in some way. He's one of my favourite players ever and I'm really sorry to hear of his passing.

And yes, that 1990 trade was perhaps the last of its kind. It wasn't about big market vs small market teams, or trying to get value for players before they test free agency, or tanking/rebuilding to prepare for the future. It was a straight up challenge trade of four star players. There may never be another one like it again.

And there was a perfect symmetry to the trade in that the Jays got the best and the least of the four, and the Padres got the middle two guys--things could have gone either way, and if Alomar hadn't developed (which in turn got the Jays over the hump, which brought in Winfield and Molitor, all of which made Carter look better than he was), it could have been a terrible trade for Toronto.

Olerud being able to replace McGriff was a big part of that deal too. iirc he went straight from collage ball to the majors. that aspect was definitely a risk aswell.

orrin freeman, who had been a scout/farm director/special assistant to the gm for the marlins since their inception in 1991

NY/SF Giants ace Johnny Antonelli

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2020/02/28/johnny-antonelli-dies-new-york-giants-pitcher-world-series-hero-1954-rochester-ny-businessman/4902150002/

yankees' kelly rodman, one of very few female scouts in the game

not sure of the cause, but she was only ~40

Jimmy Wynn was posted in the ILX thread, but he should get one here too.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/legendary-astros-outfielder-jimmy-wynn-dies-at-age-78/

I was a full-fledged Reds fan by '74, so I remember the phenomenal start the Dodgers had that year.

end of April: 17-6
end of May: 36-14
end of June: 52-24

Still, the Reds almost caught them, only finishing 4.0 out (they were within a game-and-a-half on Sept. 14). I thought Wynn had the same kind of start, but not quite: phenomenal May, surrounded by three good but not spectacular months (and a slow August/September). Really good year overall, though (it was a pitcher's year, I think), and he was 5th in MVP voting, finishing well ahead of winner Garvey and runner-up Brock in WAR (and basically tied with Bench, who finished 4th). Weird: spending the bulk of his career in the Astrodome and Chez Ravine, I just assumed he got killed by his home parks, but for his career he was .256/.376/.443 at home, .245/.355/.429 on the road. One of the great nicknames ever, and one of those guys who was a walking machine before anybody cared.

RIP Toy Cannon

We mourn the death of Ed Farmer who passed away Wednesday night.

Farmer worked as a radio broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox for nearly 30 years, played 11 seasons in the major leagues, including three with his hometown White Sox, and was a strong advocate for organ donation. pic.twitter.com/wx7itjfEYk

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 2, 2020

al kaline, 85

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/04/06/al-kaline-dies-detroit-tigers/505371001

That's a big one. As I just posted on Facebook, though, of all the famous HOF'ers who played most of their careers in the '60s, I have less of a sense of Kaline than any of them.

I remember seeing him on TV at the end of his career.

per Ben Lindbergh on EW, Kaline had the most career HR (399) w/out ever hitting 30 in a year.

There is a lot of love coming out in the articles about Al Kaline, that guy seems to have been well liked by seemingly everyone. I knew him from baseball cards as a kid, but that he was supposed to be the real deal as a player good all the way around.

the most career HR (399) w/out ever hitting 30 in a year

I'd say that pinpoints his relative anonymity outside of Detroit better than anything.

(By which I mean next to Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Yaz, etc.)

Yaz is a pretty good comparison in a lot of ways -- Kaline didn't have nearly the same peak, but both spent most of their career operating not at that superstar peak but at a slightly lower tier of stardom in terms of production. Similar to Cal Ripken and Brett, I guess -- a couple other members of the 20+ seasons with one team club. Kaline also didn't have the same level of fame as any of those guys, probably just a matter of him not having a single season with truly eye-popping counting stats.

disappointing that he never played catcher even for just an inning, would have been cool for Al Kaline to be part of a battery.

o_O

No dad jokes on the obit thread?

I was going to say he was one of the few players of his caliber where it could be argued his best season was his first full one, but his age 20 season (didn’t turn 21 til December of that year) was actually his second full one.

no, it was solid

tbf, he made 18 all-star games, so *someone* recognized he was good

I quoted the battery line on Facebook!

Kaline was definitely highly thought of by other players. All-Star voting wasn't handed over to fans until 1970; I assume all those AS appearances were voted on by players?

Brooks Robinson said he was the best he played against

gen believed he forsook some power for average and walks

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/remembering-al-kaline-mr-tiger-1934-2020/

Al Kaline’s family put a “regular” obit in the Sunday @freep. By blending in, it’s an example of how one-of-a-kind he really was. pic.twitter.com/CR7ej9aZAT

— Matt Friedman (@mattfrieds) April 12, 2020

Glenn Beckert:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/former-chicago-cubs-star-glenn-beckert-dies/

One of those random stats that will stick in my mind forever: he hit .340 one year, when Rod Carew was the only second baseman who did that. (Okay, I checked--.342.)

hank steinbrenner, 63, non-covid-related

https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/hank-steinbrenner-yankees-co-owner-dead-at-63/

jim frey, 88

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/04/14/former-royals-cubs-manager-jim-frey-dies-at-88

Within a few months of Tony Fernandez, Dámaso García.

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/04/15/long-time-blue-jays-infielder-damaso-garcia-dies/

RIP I remember being super bummed as a 9 or 10-yr old when he was included in that Chambliss trade

And being down on Rick Cerone

Steve Dalkowski, a wild left-hander who was said to have been dubbed "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" by Ted Williams, died this week in New Britain, Connecticut. He was 80.

Dalkowski, who once struck out 24 batters in a minor league game -- and walked 18 -- never made it to the big leagues.

Writer-director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Orioles farm system, heard about Dalkowski's exploits and based the character Nuke Laloosh in 'Bull Durham' on the pitcher.

The A's are mourning the loss of former Athletic minor leaguer Miguel Marte, who passed away earlier this week due to complications from COVID-19. Marte played in the A's system from 2008-2012. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.https://t.co/PV7UEuAuvL pic.twitter.com/mVeLdOUciU

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 1, 2020

journeyman Matt Keough, AL All-Star as a rookie in 1978 & was selected AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1980, both for the A's.

Tonight my dad and hero Bob Watson has passed away after a long fight with kidney disease.. #Astros #Yankees #RedSox #Braves #Athletics #USABAseball #MLB #1stBlackGM pic.twitter.com/obKe1mwJYc

— K Dubb (@TheReal_KDubb) May 15, 2020

Understand that I realize why, but Watson was the very definition of what James called "the RBI guy with mystique," something you can't have in the era of analytics.

http://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/arizona-diamondbacks-player-wife-dead-spt-trnd/index.html

biff pocoroba, 66

How did we miss this?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39286514/bud-harrelson-scrappy-mets-ss-fought-pete-rose-dies-79

I didn't know about the Alzheimer's. Only won one GG, surprisingly--his defensive reputation was up there with almost anyone's through the '70s. (Usually lost out to Concepcion.) Got an MVP vote in '73 for playing 106 games and hitting .258--his career high till he hit .282/.272 his final two seasons. Immortal, of course, for this (Monday afternoon game, so I was probably sitting in Mr. Gudgeon's grade 8 class and missed it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8xKLnO4hOs

Rose in 2008: "You had Seaver, who was the greatest pitcher I ever saw, and you had great hitters like Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee, and later Rusty and Milner. But the heart and soul of that team — ask anyone who played against them — was Bud Harrelson."

(Note to Thermo: if there was ever a player who was going to have "scrappy" in his obit headline, Harrelson's the guy.)

A member of the @Mets extended family has passed away. (Okay, REALLY extended family). Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on “The Honeymooners” was 99 years old. Her grandnephew Tim Redding pitched for the Mets 15 years ago. TV, if not necessarily Mets royalty. RIP. pic.twitter.com/PlbXqMy0ws

— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) January 14, 2024

Steve Staggs, 72. Not sure if Facebook links to a public group work here:

https://www.facebook.com/TorontoBlueJaysBaseballFans/posts/pfbid0yWgxshR6QWTC1C8d8DFFvAWci77arNW12vSUDmwtvgRHtmWnahK9RbAvRRL2tXa5l

I don't remember him at all, even though he was the Jays' leadoff hitter for half their first season. Looks a lot like Wade Boggs here:

https://i.postimg.cc/9fhb6xDH/staggs.jpg

Jimy Williams (if he'd been a character in Goodfellas, he would have been Jimy One-M).

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/former-blue-jays-manager-jimy-williams-dead-at-80-1.7098047

1) Had the difficult task of taking over from Bobby Cox in 1986, after the Jays' first divisional title.

2) Manger when they collapsed in '87. After play on Sept. 26, the Jays were 96-59, the best record in baseball by 4-1/2 games. They proceeded to lose their final seven games, the last three by one run to the Tigers, the team that overtook them for the A.L. East title.

3) In the middle of probably the most memorable player-manager confrontation in team history:

https://mopupduty.com/a-memorable-blue-jays-opening-day-041117/

The Jays started the '89 season 12-24, Williams was fired and replaced by Cito Gaston, and it went from there.

"Manger"--I do remember invoking Jesus's name a number of times those final seven games.

I don’t know anything about him but you might enjoy this Red Sox Stats tweet about the time he benched Pedro

On August 14, 1999, Pedro was 16-3 with 199 strikeouts, a 2.46 ERA and 1.62 FIP.

He showed up late for a start, and Jimy sat his ass. pic.twitter.com/WJ7av91tU2

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) January 29, 2024

I'd completely forgotten he went on to manage other teams...Houston, too. Weird: he had a winning record in all three places (.535 for his career), and in every case, the team went on to their greatest success soon after he left (Jays and Red Sox win WS within three years, Houston goes to their first WS the very next year).

Maybe his biggest claim to fame, upon reconsideration, is managing Pedro in 1999 and 2000.

His biggest claim to fame is probably this:

Williams returned to the Braves as Cox's third base coach from 1991-96, memorably giving Sid Bream the green light for the pennant-winning run on Francisco Cabrera's single

I had no idea he was coaching for the Braves, although it makes sense that he'd follow his former boss to Atlanta.

Didn't know that either...eventful career.

Who just died? I briefly saw one of those rotating online headlines about a pitcher who played for 10 seasons dying...can't find anything.

im not seeing anything

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hannan

That'd be him, thanks. Never heard of him. Definite claim to fame: part of the massive Denny McLain trade in 1970.

Geez, missed this:

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/don-gullett-world-series-champion-with-reds-and-yankees-dies-at-73/

Easily the best pitcher on my first favourite team. From Posnanski's post today: best winning percentage for pitchers who won 100 games before turning 27 (44 of them in the 20th century).

1. Roger Clemens, 116-51, .695
2. Don Gullett, 109-60, .686
3. Dwight Gooden, 142-66, .683
4. Jim Palmer, 122-57, .682
5. Pedro Martinez, 107-50, .682

Retired after that--never pitched in another game.

ed ott, 72

u l washington, 71

also tim wakefield’s widow stacy, 57

I remember Ed Ott, who then led me back to Duffy Dyer; Manny's backups.

having grown up with ed ott (and steve nicosia!) i have to stop and think whenever the the crossword is asking for MEL

Ed Ott did Felix Millan dirty. RIP but you will pay for it in the afterlife.

missed this but former pirates/cardinals/white sox/etc pitcher jose deleon died a few weeks ago at 63

Such a strange pitcher, the disconnect between his peripheral stats and his W-L record--he got some attention for it at a time when few pitchers did. Both years he lost 19 (2-19 in '85!), he gave up fewer hits than IP. He walked too many, but he also struck out over 7 batters per 9 when, again, that wasn't common. For his career, a league-average ERA, a FIP of 3.61, and a W-L record 30 games under .500.

kind of amazing that deleon still put up 1.8 fWAR while going 2-19

he was unlucky, but the '85 pirates were a deeply awful team (apart from rick reuschel). their leading home run hitter had 12!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PqXNWS4aRU

Three or four famous Mets on there...Did we mention Bill Plummer on this thread? Remember him well as Bench's backup.

Peter Angelos

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/23/peter-angelos-orioles-owner-dies/

Pat Zachry, 1976's NL ROY (tied with Butch Metzger):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2024/04/06/pat-zachry-obituary/a4456638-f465-11ee-a4c9-88e569a98b58_story.html

Also beat Dock Ellis in G3 of that year's WS sweep of the Yankees.

I missed the biggest part of his story: he was one of the four players sent to the Mets for Seaver in '77 (along with Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, and Dan Norman).

catcher, most notably with the mets, jerry grote, 81

the notorious fritz peterson, 82

Wow. Also a close friend of Bouton's (or at least was described that way in Ball Four). If you don't know about the notorious part, look him up!

"I always did my best work when I was scared stiff. In fact, if I'm not scared for a game I'll create some critical situations in my mind. Like, I'll pretend it's a World Series game and that it really counts big. I told Fritz Peterson about how I felt about being scared and one day before I was going to start a game he came over and whispered in my ear: 'If you want to see your baby again you'll win today.'"

-- Ball Four

despite peterson’s notoriety, i was not expecting to receive a new york times push notification about his death

if we're going by ny baseball fan importance jerry grote (rip) way more notable than sex freakazoid peterson, his nice run with the non-competitive yankee clubs not withstanding

When Kenny Holtzman was a rookie in 1966, his start against Sandy Koufax was a big event for many of us — two Jewish left-handers going head-to-head a day after observing Yom Kippur. Holtzman pitched eight no-hit innings and the Cubs beat the Dodgers 2-1 at Wrigley Field. RIP. https://t.co/ahs4DJbn5V pic.twitter.com/IwDT6LI1uK

— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) April 15, 2024

Just heard about this from a friend. Kind of overshadowed on the A's dynasty by Hunter, Blue, and Fingers.

When I was growing up, they would always show those retrospective programs covering the World series and they always showed ones from the Athletics dynasty. Holtzman was one of the singular guys I remembered, and growing up he loomed larger in legend for me than almost anyone from those teams outside of Reggie. When you look at his statistics, it's kind of unbelievable he never received a single Cy Young vote.

https://i.postimg.cc/gJNYQhwk/kevin.jpg

Don't remember him at all.

Holtzman won game 7 of the 73 series versus the Mets, hit a double and scored a run. I'll never not miss pitchers batting, yes I'm old. Also, very good Grid choice because of brief and mostly forgotten Orioles and Yankees years.

I didn't know that Holtzman played for the '77 and '78 Yankees, he won five WS rings! And yeah, it's surprising that he never got a CY vote with those pitching lines, but then again it's not surprising considering his competition on those WS winning teams.

Happy trails Whitey Herzog

My first thought was that he was one of the very last autocratic old-school managers, but he retired in 1990, so I guess there were a number of them still around.

ESPN: "A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the 'buddy-buddy' school of management..."

The Dodgers mourn the passing of one of the team’s all-time greats, Carl Erskine, at the age of 97. Carl was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a true ally to Jackie Robinson and more in the pursuit of equality, and a pioneering advocate for those with special needs, inspired… pic.twitter.com/1MPNDnz9HR

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 16, 2024

Seems apropos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RUIeX6UCT8

Don't think I knew this (from Posnanski's obit):

In a nine-day span in June of 1949, the New York Yankees signed two 17-year-old prospects from the Midwest; one a shortstop out of a town called Commerce and the other an outfielder from a place called Belleville. The Yankees gave each of them a $1,500 signing bonus and something to dream about.

The shortstop was a kid named Mickey Mantle.

The outfielder was Rellie Herzog. Well, Rellie was a nickname. His full name was Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog. A few months later, while playing in an Oklahoma town called McAlester, a local sportscaster noticed his light hair and gave him a new nickname.

And that’s how he became Whitey Herzog.

Whitey was one of the first non-Cubs managers I remember making an impression (along w/Earl Weaver and Billy Martin.) i'm pretty sure i thought he was about 70 in the '80s, he just looked like one of those old-time lifers. which he was, he just wasn't as old-time as i thought. i feel like the tobacco chaw no BS guys are few and far between these days, the guys who look like they've been through some shit already. Clint Hurdle was a recent-ish one i guess.

They're extinct--just doesn't work with guys making this much money. Which is good; having played for such coaches when I was younger, it's a way of behaving that should be extinct.

Having said that, when I see something like this, some irrational nostalgia for the Herzog/Weaver/Martin style of managing lingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuT2PMNQ54